NAME

Net::NIS - Interface to Sun's Network Information Service

DESCRIPTION

The Net::NIS interface comes in two parts. The first part is the raw implementation of the NIS API. The second is the object interface, described in Net::NIS::Table. This document describes the NIS API implementation.

The NIS package implements all functions described in the ypclnt(3N) manual page.

The following commands have been implemented:

yp_bind($domain)

Bind the process to a NIS server for the domain $domain. This function is rarely needed. See yp_bind(3N).

yp_unbind($domain)

Unbind the process from the specified $domain. This function is also rarely required. See yp_unbind(3N).

$domain = yp_get_default_domain()

Return the host's local domain. (The same as the domainname program). See yp_get_default_domain(3N).

($status, $value) = yp_match($domain, $map, $key)

Return the $value for the given $key in the $map for the domain $domain. The $key must be an exact match for an item in the map (i.e. yp_match does no partial matching. The $value is only valid if $status is equal to $YP_SUCCESS.

($status, $key, $value) = yp_first($domain, $map)

Return the first key-value pair from $map in $domain. As the NIS maps are stored in a DBM table, the order of the returned values is not obvious.

($status, $key, $value) = yp_next($domain, $map, $key)

Return the next key-value pair from $map in $domain. The $key must be provided from the previous yp_first or yp_next. The yp_first/yp_next method is not recommended, as under some circumstances, entries can be skipped or returned twice. yp_all is a better interface to use.

($status, \%values) = yp_all($domain, $map)

The yp_all call returns an entire map in the %values associative array.

($status, $order) = yp_order($domain, $map)

This function returns the order number for $domain. Whatever that is. It mustn't be very important, since it's not implemented on NIS+ servers running in "YP-compatibility mode". I put it in for completeness.

($status, $name) = yp_master($domain, $map)

Returns the machine name of the master server for a map.

$error = yperr_string($status)

Returns a string representation of the error code passed in $status.

$status = ypprot_err($code)

Translates a NIS name service protocol error code to a ypclnt layer error code. Only used for the C version of yp_all, and it is only implemented here for completeness.

ERROR CODES

The $status variable returned by the above functions can have one of the following values:

$Net::NIS::ERR_ACCESS		Access violation
$Net::NIS::ERR_BADARGS	Args to function are bad
$Net::NIS::ERR_BADDB		yp data base is bad
$Net::NIS::ERR_BUSY		Database is busy
$Net::NIS::ERR_DOMAIN		Can't bind to a server which serves this domain
$Net::NIS::ERR_KEY		No such key in map
$Net::NIS::ERR_MAP		No such map in server's domain
$Net::NIS::ERR_NODOM		Local domain name not set
$Net::NIS::ERR_PMAP		Can't communicate with portmapper
$Net::NIS::ERR_NOMORE		No more records in map database
$Net::NIS::ERR_RESRC		Local resource allocation failure
$Net::NIS::ERR_RPC		RPC failure
$Net::NIS::ERR_YPBIND		Can't communicate with ypbind
$Net::NIS::ERR_YPERR		Internal yp server or client interface error
$Net::NIS::ERR_YPSERV		Can't communicate with ypserv
$Net::NIS::ERR_VERS		YP version mismatch

AUTHOR

Copyright (c) 1995 Rik Harris (rik.harris@fulcrum.com.au). All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The Network Information Service (NIS) was formerly known as Sun Yellow Pages (YP). The functionality of the two remains the same; only the name has changed. The name Yellow Pages is a registered trademark in the United Kingdom of British Telecommunications plc, and may not be used without permission.